Avatar: The Legend of Sokka
by Charbonne
Summary: He kept on messing up. There was no way that he should be a waterbender, let alone the next Avatar. Rated M for some mature themes.


**Ok, This is my first attempt at writing an Avatar fanfic, so you'll have to excuse me if the first part seems a little disjointed. Essentially, I figured that it would be an interesting concept if it turned out that instead of Aang, Katara, Zuko, or Azula being the Avatar, it was instead Sokka. Now I know that it seems like a strange premise, especially since Sokka isn't a bender, but I figure I can explain that later in the story. **

**Anyway, this particular idea has been rattling around in my head for a while now, ever since I finally saw all of the series over the last summer. I hope it meets with people's approval.**

_**Disclaimer: Yeah right, like I could own Avatar. Maybe the twisted crap in the story, but none of the characters or world contained within. They are owned by Bryan Konietzko and Mike DiMartino.**_

_Avatar:_

_The Legend of Sokka_

_Water, Earth, Fire, Air…_

_My grandmother used to tell me stories about the old days. A time of peace, when the Avatar kept peace between the Water Tribes, Earth Kingdom, Fire Nation, and Air Nomads, but that all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, only he could stop the ruthless firebenders, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. _

_A hundred years have passed and the Fire Nation is nearing victory in the war. Two years ago, the men of my tribe journeyed to the Earth Kingdom to help fight against the Fire Nation, leaving me and my brother to look after my tribe. Some people believe that the Avatar was never reborn into the Air Nomads and that the cycle is broken, but I haven't lost hope. I still believe that somehow, the Avatar will return to save the world…_

He was three the first time he bended. His mother had been trying to get him to go to bed when all he wanted to do was stay up and listen to more of his father's tales of warriors, tiger-seal hunts, sailing on the ocean, and visiting far-off lands he had never even heard of. The boy started throwing a tantrum, yelling and pounding his fists and kicking his feet, trying in vain to make his parents keep him up. His mother shook her head and tried to pick the boy up, which caused him to beat the ground harder, where tiny cracks formed beneath the furs of the igloo. One last pound later, he found himself drenched, shock reflected in his wide blue eyes as well as in the faces of his parents.

It didn't take long for Hakoda and Kya to realize that their eldest, Sokka, was a waterbender, the first born into the tribe since the raids on the South Pole stole away the rest of them. Sokka didn't understand, at first. All he knew was that water tended to do interesting things whenever he was upset or exited. He didn't know the danger he was in, the danger his entire family was in, especially since a year later, his baby sister Katara had gotten so upset with him over him taking her favorite doll that she caused a wave of water to erupt from the jug at the back of the igloo and drench them both. All he understood was that he and his sister were special, since neither of them saw anyone that could do anything like bend water.

He and his sister tended to play together instead, often getting into water fights that resulted in the both of them getting soaked from head to toe and trying to explain to an exasperated Kya that they had instead fallen into a pool of water. Katara was of course a natural, and seemed to effortlessly bend water to her will with a few gestures. Sokka however was more apt to cause accidents, and often lost in his fights with his sister with odd steps that seemed to make him trip up constantly.

Katara often tried to show her older brother the finer gestures that would help him control the water better, but often those missteps would cause him to mess up constantly. Katara joked that he didn't need to add extra flair to his movements. Sokka grumbled that he was controlling the water, Sokka-style.

"Maybe you're too excited, Sokka," Katara suggested one day. Both of them were helping out the women hang strips of meat to dry. Sokka scowled at the idea of not being with the men of the tribe, but he decided that since they needed a strong pair of hands, it was fine that he was stuck here instead of off hunting with the men.

"I'm not exited, Katara. I'm just not as good a bender as you." Sokka hung a strip on the line. "Besides, maybe it was a mistake."

He turned and realized that his seven-year-old sister was glaring at him. Geez, what did he do now? "The spirits don't make mistakes, Sokka. Gran-Gran said so herself." Oh, that again.

"Well, maybe they did in my case. How else do you explain the fact that I can't even get any of the basic forms down?" Sokka heaved a sigh. "Besides, I'm not even sure I even wanna bend anymore."

The air around him suddenly turned frosty and Katara snorted. She threw up her hands in disgust and stormed off. Sokka tried to go after her, but ended up falling backward when his feet wouldn't budge. Somehow, in her annoyance, Katara had managed to freeze his lower legs into the ice.

Sokka tried to pull his legs free, and when that didn't work, he then attempted to bend the ice off of them. That was met with mixed results as his legs were freed from the ice, but not his feet. "Aw, come on! Katara!" He looked over at the other women, most of who were snickering behind their hands. Grumbling, he tried multiple times to bend the ice off his feet, and when they were freed, he stormed off. "Stupid magic water stuff…" he mumbled.

* * *

For the next several weeks, Sokka avoided Katara whenever she would try and practice waterbending. It wasn't that he was mad at her; it was just that he was madder at himself. It didn't help that Katara still tried to drag him off to practice as well. It finally came to a head when he yelled at her to leave him alone, that he'd practice on his own.

This was not missed by their parents, however. Hakoda watched the two of them bicker over bending and sighed. He knew that it wasn't right that Sokka was ignoring the one thing that he was born with, but he also knew that Sokka had a point. The boy was never going to be able to train as a waterbender as long as there were no masters around, and it hurt him to see both of his children essentially growing angrier with the other over the entire problem.

Kya was also watching and getting frustrated with the seeming hostility toward each other. They were family, and part of being Water Tribe was a close connection to family. Her mother-in-law had stated as such, and like it or not, the two of them had to resolve their differences or risk tearing the family apart.

However, it was when Kanna, their grandmother, had stepped between the two in their fight that they were finally able to resolve the problem. When both waterbenders had gotten into their most recent scrap over the issue, the older woman snatched both of them by the ear and dragged them into their hut. "What is the matter with the both of you? I've seen tiger-seals with less hostility during mating season than what the two of you seem to exhibit toward each other."

"He won't waterbend!" Katara exclaimed, pointing one pudgy finger in Sokka's direction.

Sokka crossed his arms and shook his head. "So? It's not like I wanna play with magic water."

"But you're a waterbender! We have to do it. Mom said we're the only ones in the tribe that can do it."

"I never wanted to be one!" Kanna's eyes opened wide at this admission. "Just because everyone says that I have to doesn't mean that I want to, Katara!"

"That's not right! What if we're the only ones that can stop the war and bring back waterbending to the tribe?" Katara shot her brother a glare, and crossed her arms.

"All right, that's enough!" Kanna rarely lost her cool, but the two children in front of her were testing her patience like no one else in the tribe could, with perhaps the exception of her son and Bato, his friend. "Now Katara, just because you believe that Sokka should learn waterbending, doesn't mean that you should decide for him what he should or should not do, and Sokka, you are a waterbender, whether you want to admit it or not."

"But I'm not good at it. I keep on messing up badly. Remember last month, when I almost dropped Kado's house into the ice? I didn't mean to, but I messed up what Katara was trying to show me!" Sokka threw up a hand in exasperation.

"And you apologized for that. Just because you made a mistake doesn't mean you should give up entirely on it."

"Maybe I'm not supposed to be a waterbender." Sokka slumped, and Kanna could tell that he was pleading. "Maybe I'm supposed to be a great warrior. I'm good at the boomerang. I can hit a block of ice with it from a good distance. That's good for something."

"You just keep practicing throwing that thing when you should be practicing waterbending." Katara stated.

Kanna frowned. "Look, maybe you should speak with your father about this. I know that there are no teachers for waterbending here, and perhaps it would be a good idea for you to try something new until we can get a teacher."

"You mean you're just going to let him give up?" Katara looked shocked, but the older woman could tell that the younger girl was more hurt than anything.

"I never said for him to give up on waterbending, but just perhaps wait for a teacher."

Sokka, however, looked hopeful. "You mean I don't have to work on it now?"

Kanna's lips pursed. "Just until we can get a teacher for you both."

Katara groaned and Sokka grinned broadly. Kanna could tell that Katara was about to argue the point more, but instead stood up. "I'm gonna go look and see if Mom needs me for anything." With that, the younger of the siblings stormed out.

Sokka stood too, and rubbed the back of his head. "I'm gonna look for Dad. Maybe he'd be willing to show me some stuff." He dashed out of the hut, intent on doing just that.

Kanna sighed. It wasn't the best solution, but it at least got the two of them to stop arguing over something that wasn't likely to change anytime soon. She almost wished she were younger, and that there were no war, but she knew better. Wishing wasn't going to change what was happening now, and she knew without a shadow of a doubt that what was happening was fate. _I'm too old for this._

_

* * *

_

Sokka concentrated. The small creature in front of him was sticking its nose up from its burrow, testing the air to see if there was danger. The boy held his breath, not wanting to scare the creature away. When finally it braved the outside world, a sudden whirring noise was all the warning it got before a boomerang hit its head squarely.

Sokka grinned at the result. Catching arctic rabbit-hens was difficult, since the creatures were likely to startle at any noise and bolt, squawking an alarm for its neighbors. While he had caught it, it was probably more to luck than to actual skill, although he had listened to what his father had told him about how to hunt these small creatures. He was sure that he had goofed and made some sort of noise, but the result was that for once, he could bring it home and feel good that he had gotten his family's dinner.

Still grinning, he whistled. A small, white polar bear-dog bounded up and sniffed at the boy. "Kiba, fetch!" The dog glanced over at Sokka and then at the corpse ahead. With puppy-like exuberance, Kiba bounded over to the dead rabbit-hen and brought it back.

Kiba had been a gift to Sokka on his ninth birthday, as his father had decided that a hunter needed a good dog to be able to help with tracking. There had been a litter born just last spring, and the two had bonded instantly. It had been worth it, seeing as he was the only boy his age and had no one to even do things those boys his age would do.

Tying a length of twine around the legs of his first kill, Sokka couldn't help but imagine what his mother was going to make with it. Absently he gave the dog a piece of fish and patted him on the head. Mind still focused on the possibility of what was going to be made for dinner, he didn't notice the black falling about him until Kiba sniffed at it and snorted. Sokka looked over and then around, realizing that black snow was falling about him.

"What…?" Snow was supposed to be white, not black, and as more fell around him, he decided, just this once, to bend it away. The black snow, however, would not bend to his command, and Sokka gave up, instead determined to run back home and tell everyone.

When he got back, the village was in an uproar. The men were running around, gathering up weapons of all sorts and the women were shooing the children into their huts. Sokka looked around for his father and mother, but didn't see either of them. It was at the point that he decided to go look at their hut.

He ran into Katara, instead. His sister looked terrified and was running back toward the hut as fast as her legs could carry her. "Sokka!" She stumbled to a halt. "Dade told me that we need to get inside."

"Where's Dad?"

"With the other men. They said that all the kids need to go inside." Katara then looked at Sokka and put a gloved hand to her face. "No Sokka, we need to get inside!"

"I'm supposed to be a warrior. How am I gonna do that if I can't help?" He flailed his arms in a dramatic fashion. "I'm going!" Sokka then turned on his heel and ran, the rabbit-hen he'd caught abandoned in the snow.

* * *

He raced toward the beach where the men had run toward. He needed to be there, they might need his help. But when he got to the beach, he stopped in his tracks. A giant metal ship had wedged itself onto the beach, and several dozen men in red and black were fighting with the warriors of the tribe. The men of his tribe were in their normal outfits, having had little time to prepare for the arrival of invaders. Scanning the beach, he caught sight of a tall tribesman fighting with several of the invaders. _Dad,_ he thought.

Ignoring the danger, he started forward, a warrior cry carrying him forward. At least to him it sounded like a cry a warrior would make. More than likely, however, his yell of "Sneak attack!" was probably not the best thing he could have done. One of the invaders turned and shot a dart of flame toward the boy. Eyes going wide, his arms lifted in a defensive gesture as he prayed that the fire would miss him.

When nothing happened, he peeked over the hands covering his face. A sheet of ice stood between him and the firebender. Sokka could only stare in muted disbelief. Had he actually done that? It didn't make any sense. He'd abandoned his bending, so why did it save him? He barely noticed when the shield protecting him cracked and shattered, revealing the firebender. "Well, well, well. And here we thought that there was only one of you barbarians that could bend water. Or are you the whelp we were looking for?"

"Um, what's a whelp?" Ok, so maybe that wasn't the best thing he could come up with, but at the moment, his shocked mind wasn't processing the fact that the firebender was probably here to fry him. He stood there dumbly, looking at the man like he had grown a second head.

"Heh, dumb too. It's a good thing we're getting rid of filth like you." And with that, the firebender's fist flared.

Before the firebender could attack, a machete arced down, causing the man to dodge. Hakoda had appeared, and was now shoving the firebender back with a growl. "If you honestly think a kid has that much control of his bending, then maybe it's you that's dumb."

The firebender's eyes went wide. "Showing yourself now to save trash? Pathetic." He then punched a flame in Hakoda's direction.

Sokka watched the two men fight. His mind was slowly piecing what had just been said, and was realizing just what the invader's words meant. Waterbenders? They're after waterbenders? Suddenly it made sense; the fact that the Southern Water Tribe had no benders, Hakoda instructing both him and Katara to get back home, and the invaders to their shore. It made a sick sort of sense that left Sokka nauseated. Was that what happened to the rest of the benders? Did they get captured and killed by these men? It made no sense. He hadn't done anything to the Fire Nation. Why were they after him?

The firebender was skilled. Hakoda was slowly being beaten down by the other man, and a sudden realization swept over the boy. If he didn't do anything, his father was going to die. Just as he readied his boomerang, a sudden sweep of the firebender's legs caught Hakoda by surprise and knocked him to the ground. Fire dagger in hand, he plunged it into Hakoda's unprotected face.

Something snapped within Sokka. It was almost like a flood gate, and Sokka was unable to fight against the current of sudden… something, causing him to almost drown in it. He couldn't recognize anything, and as soon as it had appeared, it disappeared as a hand clamped down onto his shoulder.

With a gasp, Sokka was pulled around and the first thing the boy did was take a swing at the perpetrator. A soft "oof" was heard, and it registered finally that what he had swung at wasn't necessarily covered in black and red, but instead blue. He looked up, hoping that perhaps he'd been mistaken, that his father was the one that had stopped whatever it was, but was disappointed to find Bato looking down instead. "Easy, Sokka. You're alright. Just get back into town." The older man's voice was cracking with something, and Sokka felt his stomach freeze.

He spun around, despite Bato's warning of, "Don't!" He had to know. His dad was just fine, right? His eyes fell however on the still form of Hakoda. Some other men had gathered around, and were checking him over. Across from him Sokka could see the form of the firebender, and it was almost impossible to keep from throwing up. Gut torn open from the machete lying next to him, his face was blank and unseeing. Sokka instead tried to focus on his father, and when one of the guys checked for a pulse and shook his head, Sokka's stomach plummeted.

Sokka's view was suddenly blocked by Bato, but the scream that he heard instead was his own.

**Please read and review and tell me what you think. No flames please, as they will be fed into my furnace for extra heat.**


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